Archive: Around Town

Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties hosted Women Build Weekend on Friday, May 6th and Saturday, May 7th—and it was a smashing success!  After raising over $11,000.00 to contribute to the construction costs of Habitat’s current build on Sperry Lane in Lansing, 150 volunteers (almost all women) installed flooring and raised walls for this home.

Don Gagnon and two of his daughters—the future owners of this Habitat house—were on site both Friday and Saturday working alongside volunteers to help build their home.

Over the course of the two days, numerous prominent women from both Tompkins and Cortland Counties came by to lend a hand—or even build all day!  This list included Amy Dickinson, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, Pat Pryor of the County Legislature, Susan Murphy of Cornell, and Audrey Edelman, to name a few.  The Ithaca High Women’s lacrosse team as well as the Cornell Women’s hockey team also spent Saturday afternoon on site.


Habitat officials say they are thrilled at how well this program has been received in the community and looks forward to keeping Women Build’s momentum going.  Women Build volunteers will be on site again at the end of May, and the Lowe’s training clinics will continue into June.

Additionally, during these two days a custom designed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream themed” playhouse was constructed to be raffled off at the Ithaca Festival as a fundraiser for Habitat.  This playhouse is currently  on display at Audrey Edelman Realty USA on Hancock Street and will also appear in the Ithaca Festival Parade.  Raffle tickets are available at both Audrey Edelman offices and through Habitat.

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